It’s not every day that elementary school kids are accepted to an Ivy League University. But 300 young local students received letters of acceptance this week to Yale.
It’s the acceptance letter of a lifetime – learning you’re going to Yale University.
“Oh yeah she thinks it’s great,” says Janice Farace, discussing her daughter.
“My son has actually just been accepted into Quinnipiac so she said well I’m going to Yale!… so yeah it’s fun for her. In sixth grade.”
You read that right: Janice’s sixth grade daughter will soon be taking classes at Yale. And she’s not the only one –about 370 classmates will be joining her.
“The kids get an early admission to Yale,” says Orange, CT, School Board Chairman William Kraut.
Well, sort of. You see, Orange’s “Peck Place School” was flooded last week and when dangerous asbestos was discovered in the flooring, the school was shut down indefinitely.
While students are split among other elementary buildings for now, they’ll be moved onto Yale’s West Campus in Orange, by next week, at least until their old school building is fixed.
The doors are locked and it’s unknown exactly how long they’ll stay that way – perhaps a bigger unknown is how long the asbestos has been at the school and whether it’s been a health concern for students.
“It’s always a concern when you hear asbestos but they’re doing exactly what they need to do,” says Farace.
The board considered several temporary school possibilities.
“Well I think the offer from Yale was our best option,” says Vice Board Chair Jody Dietch.
Administrators say Yale provides a clean and secure location and based on their attire at Monday night’s special meeting, which included Yale baseball caps, hoodies and vests, the temporary school location also provides some collegiate-style excitement.
“I think the kids are excited, the community’s a little excited and we like to support Yale and their efforts to help us out, I thought that was very kind of them,” says Kraut.
The board says they’re not sure exactly how long classes will continue at Yale’s West Campus but what they do know is that the asbestos abatement should take about 3 weeks at the minimum & they should be returning back to Peck Place school sometime after that.